News-Press from Fort Myers, Florida • Page 24

B2 THE NEWS-PRESS, LOCAL STATE, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2005 FOOD STAMPS People who want to receive the emergency food stamps, must have lived in the area the day of the hurricane, and have suffered some loss of income, damage or expense because of the hurricane, Elwell said. The applicant also needs to know his or her social security number and have a photo ID. "No one will be rejected, except when they do not have an ID," Elwell said. People can expect to receive their stamps within seven to 10 days, Elwell said. "They will probably receive them in less time," he said.

"It took me about an hour and a half just to get here to this point," she said as she waited in line to get her registration form reviewed. Belmonte wanted to get emergency food stamps because she lost all of her food, and has not had a job since before the storm. Other people also waited for hours in traffic, but were pleased with the service at the center. Virginia Rodriguez of Fort Myers said she waited two hours on Buckingham Road. "It took us a long time to get here, but they've been very nice and no one is looking at you like 'Oh, you are here to get she said.

Nygaard said. Some people got stuck in the mud at the temporary parking lot on the grass area in front of Gulf Coast Center and had to be pulled out, he said. Other people were asked to leave and return in an hour because there wasn't enough parking space this morning, Elwell said. Most people tried to get to the center as soon as they could. Becky Belmonte of Lehigh Acres didn't think twice before heading to the center.

She was in the process of looking for a job when her daughter called her to tell her that the center was registering people to receive stamps. REWARD Continued from Bl blew through the area Oct 24, and now the boat is nowhere to be seen. Nancy Ginsberg believes it probably sunk. She hired private investigators to charter a plane last week and search the area for three days. "They didn't find anything," she said.

Still, she's sure it was his boat HOUSING Continued from Bl Two sites in Collier County, one already earmarked for Habitat for Humanity, have been identified as possible locations for a relatively new program being explored by government leaders, said Joe Schmitt, administrator for Collier County's community development and environmental services department The Federal Emergency Management Agency would cover the cost of roads and utilities to the sites for temporary, mobile dwellings. The site, however, would be platted like a housing development. Habitat for Humanity or another builder would agree to construct homes to replace the mobile units within 24 months of the declaration of disaster. Up to 500 mobile units could be placed on each site "that would eventually morph into a permanent development," Schmitt said. "There are two sites right now I am willing to go with," he said.

One is in the Immokalee area. Meanwhile, Collier pursues temporary housing solutions. Vacant hotel rooms and apartments are being filled. Schmitt counted 564 available pads for mobile homes, travel trailers and recreational vehicles in Collier County. A request for 200 trailers has already been made from the state and FEMA.

Collier is prepared to order more if needed, and expects the trailers to be available quickly. County officials are examining "one-for-one" swaps of mobile homes, where a damaged dwelling is hauled off and replaced with a FEMA unit. "We are working with the manufacturers, and they are producing the units at a rate of 500 a day, sometimes more. Having the available inventory is not an issue," said James Mclntyre, a FEMA spokesman now working with victims of Katrina and Rita along the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Collier and Hendry officials have identified land for a new Continued from Bl people registered quickly.

The staff set up three tents to ease the process: one for registration, one for information and help filling out the forms. At the third one, people are told if they will receive stamps. "It is taking people about 20 minutes to get through the whole process in the center," said Lee County sheriff's Capt. Jim Nygaard. "The biggest problem has been traffic on Buckingham Road.

We had four police units trying to park people," WATER Continued from Bl flows. It will take a while to get this up to speed." STAs are set up to operate remotely, but Wilma knocked out the remote capability, so crews are running the system manually. Another issue is that Wilma stirred up sediments from the bottom of the lake, which makes the water cloudy, reducing light for aquatic plants. The sediments also are putting nutrients in the water, which could contribute to future algal blooms in the Caloosa-hatchee River. "The sediments have been deposited for many years, and there's a fair amount of phosphorus," said Susan Gray, director of the district's Lake Okeechobee Divisioa 'After last year's storms, FORT MYERS Roads to close for events Taste of the Town, Florida Arts and more closes some downtown streets today and again Monday for the boat show.

At 6 p.m. today, Broadway Avenue from Main Street to First Street is closed for the Downtown Market Day. From 10 a.m.-ll p.m. today, First Street from Jackson Street to Lee Street is closed for the Florida Arts Cultural Center. From 8 a.m.

today to about 11:30 p.m. Sunday, northbound Heitman Street from First Street to Edwards Drive, Edwards Drive from Heitman Street to Hendry Street, Monroe Street from Bay Street to Edwards Drive and the municipal boat ramp close for the Junior League's Taste of the Town. The public may use the ramp at the Royal Palm Yacht Club on West First Street From 6 a.m. Monday until about 11 p.m. Monday, Nov.

14, Edwards Drive from Heitman Street to Lee Street, Monroe erally enclosed in part by the coastline, marshes and wetlands The seaward border may be barrier islands, reefs and sand or mud fiats. Bodies of water that may be estuaries are sloughs, bays, harbors, sounds, inlets and bayous. SOURCE WWW.ESTUARIES.GOV The US. Army Corps of Engineers is releasing water down the Caloosahatchee at a rate of 6,500 cubic feet per second, and large releases from the lake are expected to have a negative effect on downstream estuaries. "There will be some," said Chip Merriam, district deputy executive director for water resources.

"How much is part of our monitoring. Our biologists are part of every discussion we have. Right now, we don't know they were moved back to the pasture. COLLIER COUNTY Trust names land price The nonprofit land trust that bought the Naples Zoo property and surrounding parcels is offering to sell the bulk of the land to Collier County for $41.5 million. County commissioners will consider the price offered to the county by The Trust For Public Land for 130 acres of the zoo property at their Tuesday, Nov.

15 meeting. The trust recently bought the 166.5 acres that includes the zoo and adjacent land for $67.5 million from The Fleis-chmann Family Trust save the landmark attraction from development. The trust is now offering to sell most of the land to the county. However, there are strings attached to the offer that he has concerns about, commission Chairman Fred Coyle said. The deal hinges on whether private developers can build WHAT IS AN ESTUARY? An estuary is a partially enclosed body of water where saltwater from the sea mixes with freshwater from rivers, streams and creeks.

These areas of transi-'tion between the land and the sea are driven by tides like the sea but sheltered from the full force of ocean wind and waves, more like a river. Estuaries are gen once the material was in the water column, phosphorus concentrations doubled, and in some places, it was four times more than pre-storm. "That contributed to this summer's blooms. But there were blooms nationwide. So it was a combination of a very warm summer, and still waters." The district had hoped to draw down the lake to a level of 15 feet by Nov.

but as of Friday, it stood at 17.01 feet Street from Bay Street to Edwards Drive, Hendry Street from Bay Street to Edwards Drive and the municipal boat ramp close for the Southwest Florida Marine Industries Association's Fort Myers Boat Show. The public may use the ramp at the Royal Palm Yacht Club on West First Street. SAN CARLOS PARK Workers help herd cows Construction workers briefly became cow hands Friday morning after some cattle escaped from their home on the range off Alico Road. The problem was that someone left the gate open to the pasture north of the intersection of Alico Road and Three Oaks Parkway, said Cpl. Randy Hodges, with the Lee County sheriff's Agricultural Unit Hodges said he was called to the scene at 7 am.

By the time he got there, construction workers had driven the eight cows that escaped back through the gate. The cows briefly caused traffic in the area to slow down until FREE Dessert! House Wine! Expires 1 11505 "I think he was probably still in there," she said. The Coast Guard has called off the search for Ginsberg, Chief Petty Officer Tasha Tully said. "It's been almost two months. The search has been suspended, and we won't reopen it" Gregg Ginsberg launched the boat from a canal in St James City, where he and his wife own a house.

He was believed to have been heading to Redfish Pass off Captiva. WILMA DAMAGE BY THE NUMBERS 5,000 Collier buildings with damage to 20 percent or more of the structure 700 Collier dwellings are getting blue roof tarps from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 615 Collier mobile homes destroyed, about one-third in Immokalee. 394 Collier buildings had damage to 50 percent or more of the structure 8 Collier businesses destroyed 2 Collier houses destroyed 550 Hendry dwellings destroyed 250 Hendry dwellings seriously damaged 90 percent of dwellings in Clewiston and east Hendry with damage to 20 percent or more of the structure SOURCE: COLLIER COUNTY, HENDRY COUNTY mobile home village, similar to the FEMA village erected in Charlotte County after Hurricane Charley in 2004. That is the least attractive option for either county because it consumes time and resources and merely perpetuates the number of dwellings unsafe to occupy during a storm.

FEMA ordered 125,000 units of mobile housing for victims of Katrina and Rita. Mclntyre said 19,656 travel trailers and 494 mobile homes are actually on site and occupied. The process is slow because of extensive damage to roads and utilities and because of the debris that must be cleared away. Here in Southwest Florida, Wilma's damage to infrastructure is not as complete, so the placement of temporary units could happen more quickly. "The main thing is to understand that this has been a very active hurricane season.

A lot of people have been affected," Mclntyre said. More than 1 million households were displaced all along the Gulf of Mexico before Wilma hit. "We are working to answer or to respond to the needs of everyone, not just the people in one state," Mclntyre said. "This process is going to take a lot more time than it usually would take." LOTTO Wednesday, Nov. 2 16-39-43-46-49-50 6-digit winner (0) 5-digit $6,127 (43) 4-digit $100 (2,140) 3-digit $6.50 (45,166) Next drawing is Saturday, Nov.

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29 OYER 100,000 BTU'S KEATS POOLS UP TO 18'X3S' how much more will happen compared to what's happened already." Despite possible negative impacts on the estuaries, releases from the lake are necessary, Merriam said "Katrina and Rita and a couple of tropical waves filled up the south end of the system, so there's no place to put the water," he said. "It's not a decision that we'll give the water to one county or the other. We just don't have any other choices right now." On a more positive note, Wilma destroyed exotic vegetation and cattails, which had become dense stands in some parts of the lake, much to the detriment of other vegetation. 'Tarts of the lake were choked with cattails," Powell said. "Cattails and exotics were swept up onto dry land, leaving the native vegetation." the number of units they want on almost 28 acres of adjacent land.

Coyle said he has a problem with guaranteeing developers something before he knows what their plans are. He said that although some of the land developers want was appraised based on 16 units an acre, the property is in a coastal high hazard flood zone that typically is zoned for no more than eight units an acre. It would take extraordinary circumstances for him to approve more than eight units an acre, Coyle said. Old Florida Festival off The Old Florida Festival scheduled for this weekend at the Collier County Museum has been canceled. The museum sustained some damage from Hurricane Wilma, particularly to its native garden, and the annual festival had to be postponed, according to museum officials.

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